Patients surveyed on their experience of hospital

Friday September 5, 2014

​Canterbury DHB is encouraging people to respond to a new survey asking for feedback on their stay in hospital.

A random selection of people in the Canterbury DHB region who spent at least one night in hospital from 4 to 17 August have been sent an invitation to participate in a national survey.

Mary Gordon, Canterbury DHB Executive Director of Nursing, says patients will be able to fill in the survey online using a computer, tablet or smartphone, or can post their response. ​

"This will be the first time hospital patients' feedback has been collected and measured in the same way across New Zealand," Mary says.

Developed by the Health Quality & Safety Commission, the survey will help to improve the quality of hospital care and understand how well health services are working for patients and their families. ​

"Patient feedback is really important to us in shaping how we deliver care," Mary says.

"Hospital care is perhaps unusual in the sense that people are always keen to thank us when we have done a good job, but a broader survey will help capture the whole picture and enable us to work on where we can make improvements."​

The survey responses will be anonymous unless patients choose to supply contact details.​

Mary says responses will be collated to give each DHB a rating out of 10 in four areas: coordination, partnership, communications, and physical and emotional needs.